LESTER

BOSTON — Most of the talk at the 69th annual Boston Baseball Writers’ dinner last night was about the upcoming season.

A contingent of Red Sox personnel — past, present and future — attended the gala, including manager Terry Francona, second baseman Dustin Pedroia, third baseman Mike Lowell and pitcher Jon Lester. All spoke about expectations, speculations and destinations for 2008.

The expectations are obvious, as the team would like a repeat of its 2007 world championship season.

Speculation continues to swirl surrounding a possible deal for left-hander Johan Santana, but without anything concrete, most Red Sox personnel didn’t want to discuss it, saying only that the current team is fine the way it is. Lowell did admit, however, that he was playing general manager in his head and has paid close attention to the rumors and reports.

The Red Sox will open the season in Tokyo against the Oakland Athletics. After leaving Fort Myers, Fla., the Red Sox will have a 19-day, three-country trip that will certainly take a lot out of everyone involved.

“I’m looking forward to the experience of being there,” said Lowell. “I’m just not looking forward to finishing spring training 10 days early in order to get on a flight for 20 hours. I’ve never experienced anything like this, and we’re going to be living three weeks out of a suitcase.”

Red Sox shortstop Julio Lugo has experience playing in Japan. He was a member of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays when they played the New York Yankees overseas in March of 2004, and Lugo told his new teammates it was taxing on the body on the return trip.

“It should be fun,” said Lester. “It’s going to be different. It’s a long flight and a lot of travel, but it should be a good time. It’s not something we get to do on a regular basis, so you just try to enjoy it and not worry about the travel.”

Francona refreshed

Francona looked rested yesterday, and admitted as much. Unlike the offseason after the 2004 season, the Sox’ manager decided it was best to take it easy this time around. He said he went into this offseason with a plan because of his experience after winning in 2004. That offseason, every Red Sox player, coach and the manager were pulled in a hundred different directions, and it had a negative effect on Francona.

He was worn down and wasn’t healthy heading to spring training in 2005. In fact, he became ill at the start of the regular season and needed to be taken to a hospital in New York while the Sox were playing the Yankees. Francona was prepared for that this offseason.

“I got a lot of requests, which was pretty neat,” he said. “I said a lot of no’s. I never lived through winning before ’04 and I got burned out going into spring training. I promised myself I wouldn’t do that again, so up until these last couple of weeks I’ve done very little . . . I feel good. I needed to not do that. I owe the organization my best effort, and if I’m tired and grumpy, then that’s not it.”

While Francona answered questions yesterday about the club re-signing Curt Schilling, Lowell and Doug Mirabelli, there was no discussion about his own contract extension. In fact, there doesn’t seem to be any progress in that department despite GM Theo Epstein saying in the fall that the sides could have something done by spring training.

The envelope, please

Pedroia received his Rookie of the Year Award last night. The Sox’ second baseman posted a .317 batting average, with eight homers and 50 RBI, while playing solid defense (.990 fielding percentage).

“I thought that was very appropriate,” said Francona. “I was really excited for him. He had enough confidence in himself that he deserved our organization’s patience, and he really rewarded us. Now we go into camp and we feel like we’ve got a kid a second base who is going to be there for a lot of years.”

The other awards given to Red Sox players last night included: Manager of the Year (Francona), Tony Conigliaro Award ( Lester), Red Sox MVP (Lowell), Red Sox Pitcher of the Year (Josh Beckett), Red Sox Unsung Hero (Hideki Okajima), Red Sox Fireman of the Year (Jonathan Papelbon), Jackie Jensen Award (Kevin Youkilis), Minor League Player of the Year (Clay Buchholz and Jacoby Ellsbury).

Lowell’s a convert

Guess which team the Red Sox’ players hope win this weekend’s AFC Championship Game? OK, the answer is obvious, but it wasn’t that easy for Lowell. He grew up in South Florida as a Dolphins fans, but said he’s backing the Patriots.

“I’d love to see it,” said Lowell. “We’re living in a time when it’s a great time to be a sports fan in Boston. There’s so many good things going on, so why not keep the ball rolling?”

For the second time in his career, Lowell has been invited to the White House for a baseball-themed reception. The Sox’ third baseman and Francona will join other MLB personnel for the dinner. The Red Sox will make their trip to Washington for their World Series celebration during spring training.

jmcdonal@projo.com